Industrial controllers are special-purpose computers utilized for controlling industrial processes, manufacturing equipment, and other factory automation, such as data collection or networked systems. One type of industrial controller at the core of an industrial control system is a logic processor such as a programmable logic controller (PLC) or personal computer (PC) based controller. Programmable logic controllers for instance, are programmed by systems designers to operate manufacturing processes via user-designed logic programs or user programs. The user programs are stored in memory and generally executed by the PLC in a sequential manner although instruction jumping, looping and interrupt routines, for example, are also common. Associated with the user program are a plurality of memory elements or variables that provide dynamics to PLC operations and programs.
Connected to the PLC are input/output (I/O) devices. I/O devices provide connection to the PLC for both automated data collection devices such as limit switches, photoeyes, load cells, thermocouples, etc. and manual data collection devices such as keypads, keyboards, pushbuttons, etc. Differences in PLCs are typically dependent on number of I/O they can process, amount of memory, number and type instructions and speed of the PLC central processing unit (CPU).
Another type of industrial controller at the core of an industrial control system is the process controller of a distributed control system (DCS). The process controller is typically programmed by a control engineer for continuous process control such as an oil refinery or a bulk chemical manufacturing plant. A control engineer typically configures control elements such as proportional-integral-derivative (PID) control loops to continuously sample the I/O data, known as the process variable, from the process, compare the process variable to a configured set point and output an error signal, proportional to the difference between the set point and the process variable, to the control device. The control device then adjusts the element controlling the process property, such as a valve in a pipe for flow control or a heating element in a distillation column for temperature control, in an attempt to minimize the error signal. As the DCS name implies, many process controllers are distributed around the process and are communicatively coupled to each other forming the overall control system.
Connected to the process controller are similar types of I/O devices as connected to the PLC and additionally, intelligent I/O devices more common to the process control industry. These intelligent devices have embedded processors capable of performing further calculations or linearization of the I/O data before transmission to the process controller.
A visualization system is generally connected to the industrial controller to provide a human-friendly view into the process instrumented for monitoring or control. The user of a visualization system configures one or more graphical displays representing some aspect of the process the industrial controller is controlling or monitoring. The graphical displays each contain a user configured number of data values collected from the I/O connected to the industrial controller and considered by the user as relevant to the particular graphical display or process area of interest. Other data points may be configured strictly for archival purposes or to generate reports related to interests such as production, downtime, operator efficiency, raw material usage, etc.
Users of the visualization system are often required to design and configure all aspects of the system for their particular use. This includes defining tags to represent data values obtained from the I/O and determining frequencies with which to sample the data values from the control network and associated devices. Additionally, the frequency at which the data should be archived for report generation, historical review and graphical update often need to be specified. The design of the graphical image should be created and arranged in a coherent system to represent the applicable process. Informational reports should be created for each aspect of the process and a schedule specified for when to generate and disseminate the report. This includes applicable data for inclusion in the report and the layout of the report for output.
While each visualization system user desires to keep a competitive advantage by protecting their efforts and reasoning put forth in configuring a visualization system, market pressure has increased for an easier path to the configuration and start-up of an industrial automation visualization system. Additionally, although many industries are different with regard to the product produced, the market available for the product or their geographical location, when viewed from above they tend to use similar operations at the industrial production level. These issues induced a market wide problem of low efficiency in the ability to create and start-up an industrial automation visualization system because of the redundancy of effort associated with the commissioning of each industrial automation visualization system.